Unexpected ways your baby's names are mispronounced

[CoalCraft]

I have two daughters, Beatrix and Lois. I thought these were two classic names with a single settled pronunciation each, with minimal room for misinterpretation, at least by native English speakers. Both was I wrong!

For the avoidance of doubt, we pronounce these names...

• bee-uh-trix
• lo-iss

And yet DD1 is often called "beet-rix" and DD2 is often called "Loyce", as in rhyming with voice.

i usually let the first go as I just think "close enough", but I can't resist correcting "loyce" 🤢

Beatrix is sometimes also called "Beatrice", which is an understandable mix up that we did expect but is annoying when even family do it, and Lois is often misheard as "Lewis" so that people assume she's a boy. Not bothered by either of these when the general public do it though.

So what unexpected mispronunciations or misinterpretations did you encounter after naming your baby?

To my ear Beatrix and Beatrice sound the same unless the "x" is dramatically exaggerated.

I have an Emilia. Technically she should be em-ee-lee-ya but people often and usually say Amelia. But they're so closely sounding I really don't care.

My other two childrens names are very obvious to say.

my daughter has mentioned that she occasionally gets "jean" from leanne "lee anne"...who would have guessed that one?

I had no idea how Lois was pronounced until I read down, I would have guessed Loyce too. I’ve never heard of it before. Beatrix I pronounce be a trix not be uh trix.

Lois lane?!

My DD has a Welsh friend and she is Lois pronounced Loyce. Maybe it's a regional thing?

oh, being honest I didn’t realise that was Lois. I thought ot was a weird pronunciation of Lewis or something

Lois is just isn’t an easy word to read I think abd sounds very different to how it looks on paper.

I have a Louis - as in French "Lou ee". A classic name but in UK he gets called Lou IS. Drives me mad. Luckily we now live in a French speaking country so everyone gets it ! However that brings new challenges with daughters name!

I am a Sophie. I constantly get called Stacey over the phone. If I tell someone my name, Sophie, they repeat back 'Stacey'

I have no idea why it keeps happening but it's never stopped since I started making phone calls in my teens

Oh that's interesting! I'm Welsh and living in Wales myself and have never encountered an alternative pronunciation, but perhaps it's more in other parts of Wales.

This is surprising! I've usually gotten it wrong the other way - assumed a Louis was loo-ee when they (usually an American) were loo-is

Lois apparently is pronounced Loyce by some people / nationalities - never heard that until I can on MN!

I have a Helena… 😏

I’ve honestly never heard anyone pronounce the “a” in Beatrix apart from a an Italian friend. I thought the standard British pronunciation was 2 syllables (beer-trix / beet-rix).

I'm scottish and would say Bee-a- trix

There are lots of words with different pronunciations throughout Britain - we are not all the same!

I have an Eira (ay - rah) and it gets misheard as Isla a lot. Also we don't live in Wales so the majority say I-ruh

@losingit31 , Lois is a biblical name, and in Welsh is pronounced phonetically, so it is more language than region. Other biblical names are also pronounced phonetically, e.g. Jacob is Jack-ob not Jaycub, Elias is El-ee-as not El-eye-as

I have a Levi, which is a common name ( I think). I heard Le-vee , Lay-vee and Livi.

I made that mistake when I was younger! Thought it was pronounced as written - Louis and not Louie.

Twenty years ago, when I was in my early 20s, a colleague named his child Louis and tried to shame me for being too “common” to know how to say it (I had congratulated him on “baby loo-is” as I had seen the circular email saying kid had been born, kid was named Louis. Never heard it said before).

DD is Mia.
Didn't think anyone could possibly mispronounce it.
She gets called May-a & My-a constantly.

@CoalCraft , Lois pronounces Loyce is popular with Welsh-speakers, and has been for decades. As pp, it's the phonetic spelling of a biblical name, and it's due to language more than region

Lois is indeed pronounced Loyce in Welsh - my Mam's family are Welsh speakers and pronounce Lois as Loyce.

They also pronounce Caleb as Cah-leb rather than Cay-lub, Nathan as Nath-ann rather than Nayth-un and Jacob as Jack-ub rather than Jay-cub.

Iona is also Yonna in Welsh, not Eye-oh-nuh - derived from mis Ionawr (January) rather than the Scottish Island.

Someone's never watched Superman!! 😂

I knew an Elle who insisted it was pronounced Ellie. Bizarre.

I also never know how someone wants Andrea pronounced.
There's the American AWN-dreya.
ANNE-dreea and ANNE-dreya.

ie ending names can also be a confusing mix of -ay and -ee

I have an Enid who gets a lot of Edith, Edie, Eden. Even when she bellows it very clearly Mostly I think the general public don’t pay much attention to anything that doesn’t directly concern them – the same way colleagues of mine who I’ve worked with for YEARS will reply to emails and call me “Juliette” or even “Juliett” when it’s “Juliet” and it’s RIGHT THERE in my email. (Not my real name but the equivalent spelling error.)

I was always taught to say "Beer-trix" potter at school. Maybe that's wrong? Maybe that's just to do with regional accents? Never heard anyone e.g. on the TV really emphasising the A as per "bee-A-trix" so it's probably more like one of those two-syllable effects that run into one "beeya-trix" for most people.

DD is Islay. As well as the obvious mispronuciations like Is-lay or Ay-lay...

Issy from her German ski instructors!

(Its Ay-la. Like the Hebridean island).